Vintage Omegas

I need a dress watch and don't want to spend much, so I figure a vintage Omega is what I need. I've looked for some online and all I see are ones in terrible condition or repaired ones that are over priced. I remember seen many in the past under $300 and in good condition, what happened? Are there any places where one could still get a decent one?


P.S If you want to get rid of yours I'll be interested.

Originally Posted by blackplatano

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I need a dress watch and don't want to spend much, so I figure a vintage Omega is what I need. I've looked for some online and all I see are ones in terrible condition or repaired ones that are over priced. I remember seen many in the past under $300 and in good condition, what happened? Are there any places where one could still get a decent one? P.S If you want to get rid of yours I'll be interested.
Price went up in the past few years. For vintage, Omega is an overrated brand. You can get a Hamilton microrotor, comparable in quality to its Universal Geneve counterpart, for less than $300. Vintage Longines are also very well made. If you're into triple date complication with chronograph I have a vintage Angelus Chronodato I may part. PM me if interested. Price will be an issue but it's worth it.

Vintage Omegas are everywhere. Head over to Timezone and see what's posted over there. You can get a feel for what you like and might even come across some brands you haven't thought about.

Originally Posted by Aperipan

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If you're into triple date complication with chronograph I have a vintage Angelus Chronodato I may part. PM me if interested. Price will be an issue but it's worth it.
Pics?

Hamilton, Longines and Jules Jurgensen are well made watches; for reasonably priced vintage Omegas visit Girard's Watches.

Originally Posted by Aperipan

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Price went up in the past few years. For vintage, Omega is an overrated brand. You can get a Hamilton microrotor, comparable in quality to its Universal Geneve counterpart, for less than $300. Vintage Longines are also very well made.
Overrated or not, Antiquorum's "Omegamania" auction probably did a lot to hype the brand. But yes, Omegas command a premium over say, Longines, which is not necessarily justified. Depends on the model. Oh, and ebay is, of course, a minefield when it comes to watches.

I collect Omega's from the 70s. I love them and think they look great. Will post pics tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Lucky Strike

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Overrated or not, Antiquorum's "Omegamania" auction probably did a lot to hype the brand. But yes, Omegas command a premium over say, Longines, which is not necessarily justified. Depends on the model. Oh, and ebay is, of course, a minefield when it comes to watches.
I suppose not everyone has a hold of old catalogues. If they do, they may be surprised how cheap mid-tier Omegas went for "back in the days" compared to prestige models from brands like Longines, Bulova, Hamilton, Angelus, UG, or Gubelin. One of the reasons Omega is so prevalent among middle class families has to do with clever advertising and the availability of spare parts. Their crystals and crowns were stocked by every watchmaker in the country. The downside to this, as my uncle a watchmaker and jeweler has shared with me, is the level of franken-surgery performed on vintage Omegas. You'll see mismatched screws that hold down the rotor, mismatched crowns, wrong caseback, etc. Older omega crystals have the tiny logo in the mid center and you'll see ebay auctions advertised an old Omega with original crystal when it's clear that crystal has been replaced by a more generic version. In short, if you go vintage, avoid Omega unless you know better. I collect watches with vintage Valjoux 89 and 90. These movements were built like a tank and served as base caliber for many Pateks. If you can get a hold of any watch with this movement, go for it. They often go for less than $500.

I've posted this before but you have to be very, very careful with buying vintage Omegas on eBay, and I'd imagine anywhere else for that matter. Lots of Frankenwatches out there where the case doesn't match the movement. You have to know a little bit about what you're doing. Even on the Bay, I've not found many decent Omegas in that $300 range that were worth rolling the dice on. $400-450 seems like you'll have better luck.

If the Frankenwatch thing doesn't bother you though, you can get some decent stuff, and there is the occasional find. I have a 70s era Seamaster that I picked up for less than $300, but that was a few years ago.

Douglas


I see what you mean. Ebay has the cheapest prices but it also has the most crap. I went to a B&M store in NYC and saw a nice one I would have been interested in. I ask the price and it's $1,000. For that amount of money I could a lot more watch for my money.

Here's my vintage Omega:

Originally Posted by blackplatano

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Douglas


I see what you mean. Ebay has the cheapest prices but it also has the most crap. I went to a B&M store in NYC and saw a nice one I would have been interested in. I ask the price and it's $1,000. For that amount of money I could a lot more watch for my money.
Unfortunately, vintage Omegas have reached the same status as Beatles vinyl - even the most beat up common-as-dirt issue will command a 'premium' from even the most clueless sellers just because it is what it is, real worth be damned.

Originally Posted by blackplatano

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Douglas


I see what you mean. Ebay has the cheapest prices but it also has the most crap. I went to a B&M store in NYC and saw a nice one I would have been interested in. I ask the price and it's $1,000. For that amount of money I could a lot more watch for my money.

Yikes. $1,000 is ridiculous. You should always assume that you're going to pay another $100 or so above the watch's purchase price for a good cleaning and conditioning, but I guess the stores in NYC have the rent to pay.

Go to the Omega site and find their database. You can get a password that lets you look up case serial #s and cross-lists them with years of production, often a photo of what the watch would have looked like, and the caliber (movement) number. Do not buy any watch on eBay that doesn't show you the inside of the case and clearly has the case number and caliber number shown. Use the database to verify authenticity - at least to the degree that you can. You'll do much better this way.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by sanrensho

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Here's my vintage Omega:

nice, looks like it says seiko, but hard to read

Heres my Vintage Seiko.